The White Kunoichi
by Kusari-Gama 61602
Summary: Female Storm Shadow. 'Nuff said. How, when, and everybody's reaction to the situation is included. CRACK. Don't say I didn't warn you! Slight AU, minor Snake/Scarlett.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Hehe... dumb crack... woo... This was a random plot bunny that spawned from a picture of female Storm Shadow on DeviantArt and was fed by Karama9 and Lady Jaye1 on Twitter. Once again, if I get any military term/custom/etiquette wrong, please correct me.

* * *

It had been nearly four hours since Storm Shadow's call-time came and went.

Snake-Eyes paced restlessly around the plane, desperately fighting back panic. He didn't doubt his sword brother's skills, but he couldn't help envisioning what Cobra might do to Storm should they manage to capture him. He shook his head. Poor Tommy. He knew sending him alone on a recon mission to Destro's newest hideout was a bad idea.

Intel reported strange radiation coming from Destro's lab. Hawk had decided to send either Storm Shadow or Snake-Eyes to check it out, but not both of them. Ninja or not, the more people going on a mission, the more likely they were going to get detected. Plus, Hawk rarely sent both Snake and Storm on a mission mostly because he didn't want to risk losing both of them at once. Despite Snake-Eyes' protests, Storm accepted the mission.

Why didn't he try harder to stop him? Why didn't he request to come along?

"Hey." Scarlett stopped him with her foot. "Pacing won't help him." She reached out and gently tugged on his wrist. "Sit down, love," she murmured.

Snake sat down next to her with a heavy _thump_. _[I hope he's safe.]_ he signed.

"Of course he isn't," she said dryly. "That's why we're going in to get him out."

The commando scowled. Shana was an honest woman - yet another reason why he'd fallen in love with her - but she was sometimes too honest.

She rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. He's not going to die. Hell, if you can't kill him, not many things can."

His black gloved hand reached up to clutch hers.

She rested her head on his shoulder. "Okay. Our intel says that Destro probably has Storm detained somewhere. Chances are, he's going to call Cobra Commander and gloat about his victory before shipping Storm to him. We're going to have to move fast."

Snake nodded his approval.

"Reaching drop zone in five minutes," Wild Bill announced.

The air was soon filled with the sound of buckles and straps as the extraction team prepared to parachute out of the plane. Scarlett smiled grimly as she strapped on her own parachute. "Stay safe, Snake-Eyes."

The ninja nodded as he checked his wingsuit one more time.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. "Get in there, find Storm, and try to avoid detection until you hear shots being fired." She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Good luck."

Snake brushed his lips against her forehead, his mask warm from his breath. _[I'll be needing it, thanks.]_

* * *

He hated being gassed.

Ugh.

Storm groaned softly. His head swam nauseatingly, and he immediately clutched it in his hands.

... Wait...

He blinked in surprise and moved his hand. The sound of metal chains clinking was almost a relief. Almost. Frowning, he looked behind him. He was bound, no surprise there, but not to the wall; he was tied to four long chains, one for each limb.

It would be an easy escape. In fact... it was _too_ easy. Too easy was never a good sign. Then again, Destro's intelligence never did extend to knowing how to keep Joe prisoners put. Not that Hawk was complaining, of course. But _surely_ Destro knew better than to allow the former Cobra ninja more than enough room to move freely?

Storm shrugged and reached into his sleeve, or tried to. His fingers brushed bare skin, and he scowled. So, they changed him out of his uniform, huh? Clever on their part, but not clever enough. He reached for the false sole of one of his feet and peeled it back just enough to slip a lockpick out.

Something slithered across his shoulders, making him freeze instantly. _What the hell...?_ It wasn't a snake or a rope - neither were that light - and it was vaguely warm. Very slowly, he reached out and felt it with his fingers. It was smooth, and a little cool.

Hair. Long black hair, all the way down to the small of his back. He jerked back with a small, startled cry, and immediately covered his own mouth. "Wha... what?" he choked, grasping at his own throat. That wasn't his voice. It couldn't be his voice. He _didn't_ sound like a girl - it was a fact practically set in stone.

Then why did he? The voice coming from his throat was definitely feminine.

Panic bubbled up in his throat. What if he were in some new version of the Brainwave Scanner and his memories were being altered? He inhaled shakily and firmly told himself to get a grip. Stay focused. Don't get distracted.

"M-my name is Tomisaburo Arashikage." Dammit, his voice sounded so girly and shaky. "My sword brother is Snake-Eyes, who I grew up with, and Kimi Arashikage is my cousin." He paused, trying to feel any sort of internal protest to what he had just said, or any sign that his memories were being replaced.

Nothing.

He slowly exhaled through his teeth and forced himself to breathe evenly. Okay, so he wasn't in the dreaded scanner. Maybe... maybe this was a hallucination of some sort. He was gassed, after all. There was no telling what he had inhaled. Maybe he was high. He stared at the stone floor, daring it to move or shift shapes before him. When it failed to do so, he switched to the iron bars in front of him. When that too failed to move, he shifted around, thinking.

Escape was probably not the best idea right now. It was obvious his mind was messed up at the moment. Escaping would only end with his recapture, and probably with tighter restraints. He closed his eyes. He should wait a few minutes for the drug to clear up. _Then_ he would escape. Yes, that was the plan.

And once he returned to the Pit, he was going straight to Lifeline. His lips twitched up into a small smile. He could see the medic's shocked and suspicious face now. Storm never went to the infirmary willingly.

Time passed, and he slipped into meditation. Breathe in, breathe out. His heart rate steadied as his mind cleared. A guard hadn't stopped by to check on him yet - more proof that what he was experiencing wasn't real. Just wait it out... just wait it out.

His eyes shot open at the sound of approaching gunfire. Ah, that's right. He had missed his call-time. The extraction team was here. He had the briefest thought that maybe it was a hallucination, but he had been sitting for a few hours. He must have received one hell of a dose if he was still hallucinating. Then again, maybe whatever drug he had received was concentrated on his thoughts about himself. Yeah... yeah, that was it. That would explain why he was a freaking _woman_ at the moment.

He winced. He desperately prayed Snake-Eyes wasn't in the team, but knew without a doubt that he was. Dang it, his sword brother would never let him forget today. He had been wanting to pull Storm out of a sticky situation since he had switched sides. It was a little contest, really, to see who could show the other up.

And it looks like Snake won. "... Well. Dammit," he swore, then hissed in irritation. He still sounded like a girl.

His hands clapped over his ears as the sounds of gunshots drew closer. Almost instinctively, he curled up into a ball to try and block it out completely. He really wished Snake wasn't so 'Uzi-happy', and he _really_ didn't want his brother seeing him as, well, a girl.

The lock to the cell dropped uselessly on the ground. Storm didn't need to identify the person's heartbeat to know it was Snake-Eyes.

"Kill me now," he groaned.

* * *

Stay tuned for how Stormy turned into a girl, and everybody's reaction to him/her. :D

Thanks to Greentigerr for her editing.


	2. Chapter 2

_A prisoner!_ For a moment, Snake couldn't help but stare. Since when did Destro keep female prisoners? And...

Snake carefully looked at the young woman curled up in front of him.

... And quite pretty ones, at that? The Baroness had quite strongly objected to Destro keeping Cover Girl and Scarlett prisoners once, which Snake didn't mind, because it had distracted the two enough for him to sneak in and quietly break the two women out. _Oh, man... if Baroness finds out about this, Destro is going to die a horrible, horrible death... _Perfect_ blackmail material._ He grinned slightly underneath his mask.

The figure before him shivered. "Kill me now," a quiet female voice moaned.

He froze for a second, then immediately dashed forward. His sudden movement made the woman flinch, but she didn't back away or try to hide in the corner. _[It's alright,]_ he almost signed, before almost smacking himself for his stupidity. Instead, he made 'calm down' motions with his hands. _Calm down, calm down. It's going to be alright. Everything's going to be fine..._

Finally, the woman lifted her head to look at him. Her eyes were dark and blank, as if she couldn't fathom his intentions. Shock, he decided. She must have been tortured, or worse. She did, after all, ask him to kill her. Who knew what horrific deeds Cobra had done to her? It was something he didn't want to think about at the moment.

He took a deep breath, and waved at her a little, trying to appear friendly. Instead, she raised an eyebrow and stared at him. "... Yes. Hello. I know you're there. I'm not blind."

So much for being friendly.

Snake tried to communicate again. He pointed to himself, made a 'pick up' motion with his arms, and pointed at her. Her other eyebrow rose, still suspicious of his actions. Snake wanted to bang his head on the wall in frustration. They were in the middle of an extraction mission, and the rest of the team was under heavy fire. He didn't have time for this! Weren't prisoners _supposed_ to be happy to be rescued?

Something heavy pounded on the dungeon door. "Hey! Open up! I have permission from Destro to move the prisoner!" The Viper kicked the door. It moved a little, and the Viper stuck his head in. "... Hello? Who's here?"

A short burst of gunfire, and the Viper fell to the ground, his body lifeless and a puddle of blood slowly expanding around him.

There was not much time. Without hesitation, Snake scooped the woman up in his arms and smoothly stood up. Once he was fully upright, he bounced a little to move her higher up on his arms. She was a heavier than she looked, but from what he could feel, the majority of her weight was muscle. It was a little strange for a civilian to be so in shape, but he ignored it.

"Hey, what the-?! What are you doing? Put me down, stupid bastard! I can walk!" The woman struggled fiercely. Snake responded by rolling her in his arms, crushing her against his chest. She kicked out, but her legs hit nothing but air. Her hands were pinned between her body and his, and she looked like she was strongly considering biting his shoulder. Snake gave her a warning look. His message was clear: bite me, and I'm going to headbutt you so hard, you won't wake up until tomorrow evening.

"I'll make you'll regret this, soldier boy," she growled as he stepped over the Viper's body and ran out the door . His response came in the form of gently pressing her face into his shoulder, shielding her eyes. No doubt there were going to be bodies all over the place. He didn't want her seeing anything that could trigger a panic attack. Much to his surprise, she lifted her head the moment he got her to close her eyes. "I've seen my share of bloodshed. I'd like to keep my eyes open, thank you very much." She paused, then added, "I appreciate your consideration, though. It was thoughtful of you."

He didn't have time to nod in acknowledgment. Snake moved quickly, jumping, sprinting, ducking, and flipping. After a few unpleasant jerks, the woman made the wise decision to duck her head and not get her neck possibly snapped. Bullets whizzed by, along with the occasional arrow or shuriken, but she didn't flinch, even when one almost scraped her cheek.

Snake's arms tightened around her, so much that she could barely breathe. She pushed against him, gasping, but he held her firmly. The lack of air didn't last long. At the last second, Snake jumped, and his foot connected with the door in a perfect flying side kick. The hard jolt upon contact jarred her forward even as they both tumbled through the now-broken door. Snake broke out into a full-on sprint away from the base, making no effort to conceal himself.

Not too long after, the air was filled with the roar of plane engines. Within moments, an aircraft landed slowly, sending up clouds of dust as the ramp in the rear opened. Briskly, Snake walked up the ramp. A red figure quickly went over. "Snake-Eyes!" Lifeline's eyes were glued to the female form in the ninja's arms. "... Ah. I see. I'll take care of her. You go right on back." He disappeared back into the aircraft. Snake-Eyes gingerly set the woman down in one of the seats. He made an 'O.K.' sign to the medic with one hand before taking off to rejoin the battle.

"Crazy, crazy soldiers." Lifeline sighed as he walked over to the recently-freed prisoner and opened his medkit and "You alright, ma'am?" His voice was soft and soothing as he looked her over. It was important that he didn't touch her without her permission. For all he knew, she could have some very, very bad memories associated with male contact. She looked fine, overall. There was a nasty bruise on her cheek, near her jaw, and small cuts pretty much everywhere, but nothing seemed to be broken or bleeding.

The same probably couldn't be said about her psyche.

"Yes," was the quiet reply. "I'm quite alright."

"Good, good." Lifeline fished out several disinfectant wipes and a roll of bandage. "Will you allow me to touch you?"

The woman eyed the roll warily. "There will be no need for that. My wounds have stopped bleeding." She looked up at him, her dark eyes boring into his. "I will heal in time."

The medic avoided fidgeting. Sure, he knew better than to say that all Asians looked alike, but he was almost _positive_ he knew those eyes. Like the eyes of a patient who glared at him often, and made a habit of dodging him. He shook his head to snap himself back to reality. Back to the task at hand. "At least allow me to disinfect them." There was the sound of paper ripping as he carefully removed the wipe from its package.

She scowled, but held still as he gently cleaned all the wounds he could see. Normally, he would have asked her to undress (if it didn't make her uncomfortable, that is) to make sure he got to all of her injuries, but since she was wearing rags that just barely covered her, he kept quiet. There wasn't much rags could hide, anyways. And if she had serious wounds under them, he would have seen bloodstains. "How long were you in there?"

"I have no idea." The woman reached up and carefully gathered all of her hair to her left shoulder, over her chest. "I was unconscious most of the time."

Lifeline nodded slowly. "Were you drugged? Do you feel dizzy? Weak?"

There was a long pause before she nodded. "Yes, I was drugged. And I do feel a little dizzy, yes."

"Alright." He showed her a bag of fluids. "You're dehydrated. I'm going to insert an IV into your arm. It's not going to hurt, and you'll feel better in a few minutes." He felt some resistance when he gently tugged on her right wrist to get her to lift her arm, but didn't think much about it.

Then, he saw it. The very distinctive red lines and bars across the woman's forearm. A symbol that looked all-too familiar, and instantly sent a flash of doubt through his mind. It was the very symbol present on the arms of two deadly ninjas, one of which was currently being rescued by his brother.

Lifeline froze, staring at her arm. So _that's_ why she appeared so calm. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he run? Should he be fearing for his life? Should he contact Snake-Eyes? No, no to the last one, not at the moment. The commando was surely busy chopping Viper heads off. The thought made him shudder.

For some reason, he decided to chuckle. "I guess this is good news to our relatively friendly resident ninjas."

* * *

"Storm Shadow isn't in the building. Destro is gone, along with his device. Storm must have been moved to another location."

Snake remained silent. His hands clenched into fists and he bowed his head. They were too late.

Scarlett cupped Snake's cheek with her hand. "We'll find him, Snake."

He pulled away. _[He could be dead by now,]_ he signed, his movements jerky and quick.

His lover grabbed his wrists before he could continue. "Don't say that. Breaker told us that he found no file in Destro's computer regarding Storm's imprisonment or shipment. Maybe Storm broke out already and is on his way back to the Pit."

Snake gently pried her fingers off of him. _[He also said that no information was found on the device Destro was working on. Destro deleted them before fleeing. It's possible that any mention of my brother was also deleted. Need I mention that Cobra Commander is eager to get his _favorite_ ninja back?]_

The redhead sighed deeply. "Breaker is trying his best." At Snake's snort of disbelief, she gently smacked his cheek. "Hey - he really is. He would rather have Storm on our side than on Cobra's. Patience is a virtue, one that you ninjas are supposed to possess."

He grunted. _[Sorry, Shana.]_

Their earpieces crackled to life. "This is Duke. The entire compound has been cleared. No Cobra survivors. Wild Bill, ready our transport. Meet you all outside."

"Affirmative, Duke," Wild Bill replied with a chuckle.

Scarlett pressed a button on her earpiece. "Breaker, this is Scarlett. Is your search on Storm still coming up empty?"

"Yep." She could hear frantic typing on the other end, then a beep. "There's not much data in the computer, but I'm downloading all of it to analyze when we get back to base."

"Thanks. Scarlett out." Her hand fell by her side. "Snake, let's go."

Silently, the commando fell into step beside her. "Also, I heard that you stopped in your search for Storm to rescue a female prisoner." She looked up at him, making no effort to conceal the quiet admiration and amusement in her eyes. "Knights in shining armor? Pfft. They're gone. Ninjas in black bodysuits? Sounds about right." She laughed and leaned against his shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Snake. You didn't let your desire to find Storm override your duty to protect."

At the sound of her laugh, all the tension in Snake's body melted away, and he allowed himself to smile. "Let's just hope you didn't scare her." Scarlett intertwined her fingers with his.

_[She didn't seem be frightened,]_ Snake signed with his free hand. _[Just a little weak and disoriented.]_

"Poor woman," Scarlett murmured as they walked up the ramp of the transport plane. "She must have been through a lot. We'll have her see Psyche-Out."

The ninja nodded his agreement. He didn't like seeing the psychiatrist, but the former Cobra prisoner might need the support. Psyche-Out often insisted that the Joes' mental conditions weren't normal - and that Snake and Storm specifically needed to stop by his office more often. According to him, the two ninjas could potentially go insane due their habit of leaving a trail of Viper corpses whenever they came into contact with Cobra.

... Killing. Bloodshed. He paused his thoughts, and frowned a little as he retraced his footsteps.

_"I've seen my share of bloodshed. I'd like to keep my eyes open, thank you very much."_

She had seen blood before, massive amounts of it, and was clearly unfazed by its presence.

The woman wasn't a civilian.

Scarlett said something about going to see Lady Jaye - Snake hadn't been actively listening to her - and kissed his cheek before walking off. Snake quickened his pace as soon as he spotted Lifeline's bright red outfit. He needed to speak to the medic. Now. The prisoner might not be a prisoner at all, but a spy.

Luckily for him, Lifeline ran to him instead. "Snake, Snake!" he hissed, looking a little frantic. "You know the woman you brought in? The one you broke out of Destro's dungeon?"

_Oh, no..._

"She has a tattoo on her forearm that looks exactly like the one on yours. Look, I know that your clan dispersed after the whole incident with Storm's uncle and that you, Storm, and Jinx are all that's left of the clan, but..."

Snake blinked. That was totally not what he had been expecting to hear.

"... She's Arashikage."

* * *

Storm's thoughts and some interaction with Snake and Scarlett in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** *sigh* Okay, this one isn't... as good. I had something funnier originally, but then decided that it was too crack-y, and took it out. Yes, I know that this is a crackfic, but what I originally had was... well... _very _crack-y. Also, the reason the transport plane has a 'room' is because after writing out the near-fight scene between Snake and Storm, I realized that if that happened where everybody was, it would draw A LOT of attention, which was not my intention. So, voila. G.I. Joe plane with a recovering room. Sue me. Grammar, continuity, or other edits/suggestions are encouraged.

* * *

Storm settled comfortably in the corner with a thermal blanket draped across her shoulders. She pulled an earplug out, squished it, and put it back in. It surprised her just how_ nice_ Lifeline was when dealing with - ahem - civilian prisoners. Even after he had 'discovered' the tattoo on her arm, he remained calm and gentle, although Storm easily picked up on his increased heart-rate. She had requested earplugs after the medic finished cleaning her wounds, and he got them for her without question. Then again, he probably knew better than to refuse.

She chuckled a little as she tugged on the blanket. It felt so strange referring to herself as female, but if she played her cards right, she would be able to create some really laugh-worthy moments. It was like a prank. A very, very elaborate prank. Snake-Eyes not recognizing her was a bit of a shock, but she couldn't blame him. A grin spread across her face. She would tease him about it later, back at base, and she was going to make it humiliating.

Which reminded her - of course, she'd have to see Doc upon landing for a check-up. Now _there_ was a strange thought. She and Snake usually needed to be dragged, unconscious or conscious, to the infirmary, and usually by a very determined redhead.

Despite the earplugs in her ears, she picked up Snake-Eyes' approaching footsteps easily. Storm forced herself not to smile and adopted the expression of a wary but curious person. "So, you're the masked guy who rescued me." Her eyes narrowed as her sword brother seated himself across from her.

Snake-Eyes held out both hands, fingers spread, palms exposed, in a sign of peace before reaching into one of his numerous pockets and producing a pen and notepad. Storm watched with a sense of interest as Snake's pen flew and dipped in his unique, neat handwriting. A moment later, he tore the note off and offered it to her. Frowning, Storm took it.

"Hello, my Arashikage clan sister," it read. "I am Hebi no Me. You might have heard of me. I'm the _gaijin_ ninja."

She looked up at him. Snake had rolled his sleeve back just enough to reveal his_ ji-ji_ tattoo. Whether it was an act of reassurance or proof, Storm did not know. "Hebi no Me. Snake-Eyes. Yeah, I've heard of you. Every Arashikage ninja has."

By the time the last word left her mouth, Snake was off and writing. "'Every Arashikage ninja'? The clan is still there? Is it doing okay? Where did you come from?"

Storm read the piece of paper with a sigh. "No, the clan isn't whole any more than when you left, and those who still call themselves Arashikage are all but scattered in the winds. I came alone."

Snake's shoulders slumped, and his pentip didn't touch the notepad for a considerable amount of time. This time, there was a lot of scribbling out and rewriting parts of the note. The commando finally settled with,"I'm just glad to see you safe. I haven't seen any new members of our clan in a while."

Storm watched her brother, amused. Snake had never been very good with girls, a fact Storm used to tease him mercilessly about. While they were in their teens, Storm used to purposely push a panicked Snake towards a group of particularly nice-looking girls and record the entire incident with a videocamera. If he hadn't lost his voice, he would be stuttering and tripping over his words now, Storm was sure.

Oh, that reminded her. "Why are you writing, Hebi no Me? Have you lost your voice?"

Only one word was on the next note, short and tart. "Yes."

Snake watched as the woman nodded once, and silently breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't ask for more information. He tilted his head slightly, looking at her. Another member of the Arashikage! And alive, too. The news lifted his spirit a little, and he couldn't help but wonder what Tommy would think. _She probably wouldn't be happy to see him,_ he decided. His brother might have cleared his name to him and Kimi, but not to the remaining members of the Arashikage. To them, he was still the Hard Master's murderer.

There was still a lot for them to discuss.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when movement caught his eye. The woman muttered something under her breath as she twisted her hair into one long, thick rope of black. Snake got up silently and walked away. He reappeared next to her a minute later, offering her a hair band. "Thanks." She took the band and tied her hair into a ponytail. "So, Snake-Eyes. Have you found the Young Master?"

The question caught him off-guard, she could tell. The muscles in his shoulders tensed, and he fumbled for his notepad and pen. "No. I still haven't found him," he wrote.

Her eyebrows rose. "Then how come your medic said, 'our semi-friendly resident _ninjas_'?"

His answer was quick. "Like I said. I haven't seen any new members. There's another Arashikage with me, not Young Master."

"Who?"

He held up the next note. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

Storm twiddled her fingers in an effort to keep from laughing. Although he was silent, Snake-Eyes was easy to read. Well, to her, anyways. And maybe Scarlett. There was a general uneasiness in Snake's movements, and he was scribbling out his words more. _Guess being mute doesn't stop him from acting awkward around pretty girls,_ Storm mused, careful to hide her smirk.

"You are looking for Young Master, are you not? You think he's been captured."

Snake froze for a millisecond. How did...? Suddenly, he lunged at her, pinning her to the wall, and had a knife to her throat in a heartbeat. Despite the threat of death, the woman clucked her tongue and wagged her finger at the ninja disapprovingly. "Foolish move, brother," she purred. He very distinctly felt the sharp edge of a dagger pressing against the back of his neck. "You're getting slow if I can slip a weapon from your belt and get it to your neck in the time it takes you to do the latter."

His knife dug just a little more against her skin. Talk, or die.

The blade on his neck suddenly turned cool. She had sliced through his uniform. "You know, if Scarlett walked in right now, you'll be in a lot of trouble."

That... could be true, he noted. But Scarlett was more reasonable than that, and the fact that they were literally at each other's throats might alert her that something was wrong.

"You know, I would like to talk, but it's a little hard to right now."

A thin red line appeared on her neck. _You seem to be managing just fine_, Snake thought. He felt a pinch of pain at the back of his own neck.

The woman pressed a little against the wall. "Kill me if you have to," she said casually. "But if you do, you'll never find Storm Shadow."

Snake questioned her thinking in his silence. Various Cobra agents had said the same thing, only to be executed seconds later.

Her answer was the last combination of words he would have expected. "Because _I'm_ Storm Shadow."

Taking advantage of his hesitation, she twisted her pinned arm free and slapped the knife from Snake's hand. The weapon clattered to the ground, and she dove after it. When she straightened, now with two bladed weapons, she found herself staring straight down the barrel of Snake's Uzi. "I think it would be preferable that I tell you everything, brother, with as little bloodshed as possible. I've lost too much blood by your hands, and vice versa. Don't you agree?" She casually leaned against the interior of the plane.

Snake lifted his other hand. _[Prove it.]_

"Do I have to recall memories?"

_[That's not enough proof. Mindbender can easily extract a few memories from Tommy and inform you on them, Zarana.]_

Storm frowned. "Don't call me Zarana. I've always hated that bitch. And you know firsthand that the Brainwave Scanner is better at suppressing memories then extracting them. If you can resist memory extraction, what makes you think that I can't? Am I really so weak in your eyes?"

The Uzi didn't move._ [Put the knives down, and we'll talk.]_

With flourish, she twirled the knives and slipped them back in their respective places. "Alright. If you want, I can provide a DNA sample, although I'm not sure how messed up it will be, considering my... current state." She stared at her slender hands thoughtfully. "Doc can test my hearing, and I can answer any question you ask me."

Slowly, Snake lowered his gun. _[Alright. Start talking.]_

"No questions? Okay, but this will take some time." Storm sat down and wrapped herself in the thermal blanket again. "You showed up at the Arashikage when you were six. How you managed to find us when so many ninja clans can't, I don't know. Your sense of direction must have been_ really_ broken, now that I think about it. Anyways, I found you in the kitchen, and attacked you..."

Somehow, as he listened, Snake's body relaxed while his mind slowly began to panic.

* * *

The ache in her neck woke Scarlett up. Groaning and rubbing her eyes, she sat up and cracked her back. Strange. She'd never had any trouble falling asleep on Snake-Eyes. Muscles, when relaxed, made a relatively comfortable pillow. They had always taken turns sleeping. She would sleep in his arms or on his shoulder, and he would sleep in her lap. "Since when did you become uncomfortable to sleep on, Snake?" she asked before yawning.

The silence she always expected from him was broken by feminine laughing. "Snake isn't here, Red. You fell asleep on _me_," a voice she recognized as Lady Jaye's said.

"What?" Scarlett blinked rapidly in an effort to clear her vision. "Snake didn't come back?"

"No, he hasn't." Her friend winced as she rotated her shoulder. "You sleep like a rock, you know. I couldn't move for hours."

"Where is he?" she demanded, ignoring the comment. "Is he still with the kunoichi?"

"Yes." Lady Jaye's eyebrows rose.

"After several hours?"

"Hey - they're probably catching up on ninja news, and it takes Snake a while to write, you know."

"And you didn't think to check on them?" Her voice rose.

"As you may recall, you were asleep on me. I _couldn't_ move. Besides, Snake can... Hey. Wait. Where are you going?"

Scarlett walked rapidly towards where Snake and the prisoner were. Once there, she curled her fingers around the handle while her other hand gripped her pistol. She paused, straining her ears in an effort to listen. All she heard was female murmuring with the occasional pause in between. Her shoulders slumped a little and she exhaled slowly in relief. Snake was conscious, and had his hands free. At least she didn't have to worry about walking in on him poisoned or - worse - dead. Not that he was easy to kill, of course.

The door slid open, and suddenly, the mumbling became clear, coherent words. "... And you screamed like a _girl_. It was so funny! You, scared of a little-" The woman's words were cut off as a black-gloved hand slapped over her mouth. Still, she kept talking, although her voice was muffled. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

"What's going on?" Scarlett demanded. "What are you talking about?" Her eyes suddenly widened. "And... when did you hear Snake _scream?_"

Snake got up quickly and grabbed her arm, dragging her out the room before sliding the door closed behind them. _[Scarlett.]_ His hands shook a little as he signed her name.

She grabbed his wrists, concern obvious on her face. He looked really shaken up. "What's wrong, Snake? What's happened?"

_[Scarlett, cancel the search for my brother. Or sister, as the case may be.]_

* * *

The 'video camera' part is a small spoiler for my other story, "Arashikage Home Videos." Thanks to Greentigerr for editing. Why Snake is mentally panicking and some more interaction in the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update. My plot bunnies fell asleep.

* * *

Snake-Eyes was not easy to intimidate; Scarlett knew this for a fact. He had persevered his way through ninja training, survived Cobra's torture methods, and endured the roaring wrath of Beach Head without so much as a blink, though it was difficult to tell through the mask if he'd blinked. Hell, even _she _had tried her own infamous tactics during some of their worse arguments. And every single time, he'd made it very clear that he wasn't going to run away, and that was that.

The funny thing was, this same man was currently doing an impressive job of melting into the opposite corner of the room from... well...

Scarlett regarded the Asian woman carefully. She certainly acted like the white ninja. The edge in her casual posture, the almost-malicious glint in her eyes, and that all-knowing smirk all belonged to the Storm Shadow.

Snake-Eyes seemed more or less convinced. Scarlett still wasn't sure what the woman had told him, but it was safe to assume it was something Snake wanted to keep secret. Otherwise, Snake wouldn't be acting so... skittish. Or making so many evil-warding hand signs.

Storm rose, taking her shiny thermal blanket with her, and walked over to Snake-Eyes. The ninja promptly flattened himself against his seat. "What's the matter, brother?" she smiled. "Don't you want a sister?"

_[I _had _a sister! I don't want another one!] _

"You don't have much of a choice this time." Completely disregarding the fact that Snake was currently very uncomfortable around her, Storm sat down next to him. "That is... unless you don't want to be my sword brother anymore." Her eyes narrowed.

Snake-Eyes shook his head furiously. _[No, I didn't mean that.] _

"Good."

Scarlett studied the river of long, black hair spreading down Storm's neck and onto her back. "Would you like a hair-tie?" she asked, then internally berated herself. Of all the things she could've said (What happened? How are we going to get you to turn back?), she asked her if she wanted a hair-tie.

Storm turned to face her. After several seconds of staring at her unblinkingly, she finally shrugged. "Heck, why not?"

Shifting her sleeve up a little, the redhead rolled a hair-band off of her wrist and offered it to the ninja. "What?" she asked when the Japanese woman took it and inspected it. "Thinking about how to kill someone with it?"

She was rewarded with a glare. "Well, _excuse me. _I don't exactly have experience tying my own hair up." Scowling, she pulled her hair back.

"Here - I'll do it." Scooting closer, Scarlett took the hair-band back. Storm immediately ducked and stared warily at her. "Good grief, Storm. Are you _honestly _scared of me tying up your hair?"

The ninja straightened up, expression indignant. "I'm more concerned about you being so close to the back of my neck."

Raising both hands, Scarlett wiggled her fingers. "See? Nothing. Now, stay still."

Snake-Eyes watched the deceivingly innocent-looking scene before him. To any other observer, a woman braiding another woman's hair was no big deal. Make one of those women his own _sword brother, _and it immediately looked... strange.

The black-clad ninja almost flinched when Storm looked at him. Those were, without a doubt, Tommy's eyes, but he dimly remembered seeing those eyes on something else. On a... photograph. More precisely, on a woman who had looked very much like Storm did now.

A thought hit him. _Oh, man._ What would Tommy's parents think if they saw him like this? Fearless Master would definitely be laughing, and Ayame... well, Snake didn't really know what her reaction might have been, but he guessed it was pretty safe to assume that she would be very surprised.

Speaking of surprises, they were going to have to explain a few things to Duke once they got back.

Snake sighed quietly as he ran a cloth along his sword. This... wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

The look on Storm's face reminded Scarlett of the murderous glare cats gave their owners when forced to wear cute outfits.

"You look nice," she offered.

Storm Shadow's eyes locked onto hers. "You're lying. There's nothing 'nice' about wearing a greenie's uniform," she grumbled. "I miss my own uniform."

"Would you rather stumble into the Pit wearing nothing but tattered clothes? You can change into casual wear once we explain everything to General Hawk." Scarlett grimaced and swallowed several times to make her ears adjust to the change in pressure.

Storm tugged on the outfit and strained a little against the harness. "This is a little uncomfortable. It feels... different, especially in the front." She looked over at Snake, who appeared disturbed by her comment. "Do you have any _shuriken _or daggers to spare?"

A little hurriedly, Snake produced the requested items and almost dropped them in passing them to Storm. She raised an eyebrow at him as she tucked the weapons away. "Wow. I know you've always been shy around girls, but this is a little over the top, don't you think? It's _me, _Snake."

_[I _know _it's you. I just still can't believe it. How are you managing to deal with it?] _

Her shoulders rose and fell. "I guess I haven't really thought too hard about it yet." She scanned the interior of the plane. "Oh, _please_ tell me you have my swords."

A bit hesitantly, Snake-Eyes showed her the two white, sheathed _katana_. _[I'll give them to you once we're on the ground.]_

As if on cue, their transport touched down. "Well, what do you know - good timing." A click, and Storm was on her feet and in front of her sword brother. "My swords, please." She held out a hand, palm facing upwards. Snake slapped the weapons onto her hand and watched as she tucked one sword under an arm and unsheathed the other halfway to inspect the blade. "Thank you for retrieving these, by the way."

_[I didn't - Shana did.] _

"Then in that case, thank you, Scarlett." She nodded at the redhead.

"No problem." Scarlett grinned as she got off of the transport. "I knew you would throw a huge ninja tantrum if you didn't have your swords to cuddle with at night."

Storm followed. "I don't cuddle with my swords. Too uncomfortable and easy to see. _Shuriken_, on the other hand-"

"Scarlett!"

Snake-Eyes looked in the direction of the voice. At the same time, the corners of Storm's lips twitched into a very slight smirk. _Oh, no. _

Without looking up from checking her weapons, Scarlett acknowledged the approaching man with nothing more than an, "Evening, Clutch." At the same time, Snake took ahold of Storm's arm and began gently tugging her in the direction of the Pit.

"How did it go? Did you get Storm back?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Nice. By the way, I was thinking that maybe you and Snake could come down to the rec room tonight and-" his words trailed off, and his eyes lit up as his attention wandered. "Red, you let a _greenie _come on this mission?"

"Huh?" Scarlett's head shot up and she followed his line of sight. "Uhh... yes. That greenie."

Snake-Eyes tensed up and contemplated breaking into a run to avoid having to explain Storm's current situation to Clutch. Almost immediately, he decided against it; it was probably not a good idea to have Storm run in her condition. At least not yet. She might be... unbalanced. He shook his head, trying to clear his confused mind.

Storm looked unsettlingly at ease, with shoulders relaxed and expression unfazed, as Clutch neared. Confused, Snake could only watch as she smiled innocently and waved at the driver.

As expected, Clutch flashed a cocky grin. "Hello. You're a cute one."

_Uh, oh. _Snake knew where this was going. He pulled slightly on Storm, only to find her resisting.

Storm's smile thinned ever-so-slightly, but not enough for Clutch to notice. "Really? You think so?"

"Definitely." He tilted her chin back and looked at her face. "You look... familiar. Have we met before?"

"I believe so." She brushed his hand away. Snake was mildly surprised when Clutch didn't cry out in pain.

"Are you sure? I don't think I would have forgotten such a pretty face," he purred. Storm giggled.

Okay, this was getting _weird_. Snake gave her wrist a not-too-gentle squeeze and marched towards the building. "Aw, c'mon, Snake," he heard behind him. "Do you have to have _two_ girlfriends? You already have Scarlett!"

_[You have no idea what you're doing,] _Snake signed back at him, still walking.

"Of course I do!" Clutch snorted. "God, Snake. I'm not _that _inexperienced with women." He gave Storm a suggestive look.

Choosing not to acknowledge the driver's heated gaze for his own sake, Snake pointed at the swords at the woman's side. _[How have you not noticed these?] _

"Wha- Oh, huh... white swords." His expression fell. "Ah, hell. Don't tell me Storm has already claimed her."

Snake snuck a glance at his companion. There was no trace of annoyance on her face. Instead, she looked a little like the cat that ate the canary. That was not good. _[You should probably stop talking right now.] _

"Why?" When the masked ninja jerked his head in the direction of the innocuous-looking young woman, Clutch laughed. "_Her? _No... no. She wouldn't hurt me. Would you, sweetheart?"

That was it. He didn't know what made him do it - perhaps it was the stress of the mission, or maybe it was the fact that his brother was now a _woman _- but he suddenly grabbed Storm's right arm and rolled her sleeve up in a one, smooth motion, undeterred when she tried to pull away. The red clan tattoo was clearly visible. _[This woman is Storm Shadow, so yes - she _will _hurt you if you don't shut up,] _he signed before forcibly dragging her in the direction of the med-bay.

Speechless, Clutch stayed where he was, eyes bulging and mouth hanging open as he watched the pair disappear. Long after they were gone, he managed to squeak out one word. "... What?"


End file.
